Executive Recruiter

Whatnot · Consumer · San Francisco, CA · People

Executive Recruiter at Whatnot, a fast-growing livestream shopping platform. This role will focus on hiring executive-level talent across Technology and Business, building foundational executive recruiting processes, and positioning Whatnot as an employer of choice for leaders. Requires 10+ years of recruiting experience, with at least 5+ years in executive hiring at high-growth startups.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead hiring for Director-level, VP/C-Suite leaders, and L8+ engineers, directly empowering Whatnot’s most critical technical and business teams.
  2. Create strong foundational executive recruiting processes – including talent landscape mapping, market calibration, referral strategies, and targeted outreach.
  3. Manage end-to-end leadership searches from kick-off to close, creating standout candidate experiences and shaping onboarding.
  4. Position Whatnot as an employer of choice for exceptional leaders and create a sustainable pipeline of executive talent.
  5. Partner closely with our Corporate Development team on acquihires, ensuring seamless integration of talent through strategic M&A activity.

Skills

Required

  • Executive recruiting
  • Talent acquisition
  • Sourcing
  • Candidate experience
  • Stakeholder management
  • Process development
  • Market mapping
  • High-growth startup experience

Nice to have

  • Acquihires
  • Succession planning
  • Compensation alignment

What the JD emphasized

  • 10+ years of recruiting experience
  • at least 5+ years in-house focused on executive hiring at high-growth startups
  • strong track record of hiring executives and leaders across Technical and Business teams
  • You enjoy the challenge of finding world-class talent for hard-to-fill roles
  • You've developed a deep network of executives
  • You're a sourcer at heart
  • comfortable moving uncomfortably fast
  • managing multiple roles
  • accountable for your work
  • know how to work with executives of any level
  • lead with data
  • understand how to influence decisions amongst leaders and cross-functional teams
  • provide an incredible candidate experience
  • extremely organized
  • balance multiple competing priorities